Nigeria: Press zooms in on developments in President Tinubu’s academic records, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the All Progressives Congress on Tuesday chastised the Peoples Democratic Party presidential standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar, over his quest to obtain President Bola Tinubu’s academic records from the Chicago State University in the United States is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Punch reports that the All Progressives Congress on Tuesday chastised the Peoples Democratic Party presidential standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar, over his quest to obtain President Bola Tinubu’s academic records from the Chicago State University.
The National Publicity Director of the APC, Bala Ibrahim, attributed Atiku and the PDP’s action to what he called ‘post-election defeat disorder.’
He claimed Nigerians had rejected the opposition party following years of mismanagement and admonished the former vice president to quit politics.
This is happening as the United States’ District Court for Northern Illinois reportedly received the former Lagos State governor’s certificates as ordered by Justice Nancy Maldonado.
The PUNCH reports that the court was still taking the deposition of Tinubu’s certificates as of 8pm Nigerian time on Tuesday, following the release of the documents by CSU on Monday in compliance with the court ruling.
The Chicago State University released the academic records of the President following requests by former vice president Atiku, who was the PDP candidate in the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian Government has issued licenses to 17 Independent Electricity Distribution Networks operators, among which 10 are currently operational, the government announced on Tuesday.
It disclosed this in the 2022 Market Competition Report released on Tuesday by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, an agency of the Federal Government.
The government revealed this while providing a breakdown of the country’s power distribution segment. Nigeria’s power sector is basically categorised into the electricity generation, transmission and distribution segments.
In November 2013 when the sector was unbundled into the three segments, 11 successor distribution companies were created and were privatised, as they have been serving the country since then, amidst complaints by consumers.
But in the just released 2022 Market Competition Report, the NERC said, “All the 11 successor Discos (distribution companies) have been privatised. Ownership and management of the Discos have been transferred to private investors.
“Additional private distribution company has been licensed in a specified franchised area. 17 Independent Electricity Distribution Networks’ operators have been licenced, of which 10 are operational as at December 2022.
“The regulator explained that the market competition report was prepared in compliance with Section 24(2) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2004, which mandates the commission to prepare an annual report for the minister as to the potential for competition in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
The Guardian reports that the Director-General, World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has stressed the importance of trade in supporting women-led small businesses in addressing climate change and fostering innovation.
At a workshop jointly organised by the Informal Working Group on micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs), Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender and the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD), Okonjo said coming together and coordinating actions are important for promoting trade and industry as the body works towards greater inclusivity.
She added that understanding and eliminating barriers holding women back from entrepreneurship and participation in international trade is urgent. Noting that one-third of global businesses are owned or led by women, she said there is still nowhere near parity with men-owned businesses.
Outlining some gender-biased misconceptions, such as the belief that women are less suitable for entrepreneurship and lack skills and the ability to innovate, she said we must correct these thoughts and assertions by creating and making available to women-led trade enterprises, the tools they need and appropriate responses, particularly regarding digital applications and trade finance.
Entitled “Women-led MSMEs, Trade and Climate Change — Adapting and Investing for the Future,” the workshop sought to offer a joint solutions lab to highlight the importance of addressing inclusivity in WTO discussions and rulemaking and underlining the link between sustainability and inclusivity.
Kicking off with a round table that emphasised the importance of the three groups working together to bring coherence to members’ work, the session highlighted examples of how women-led MSMEs are assisted at the national level, with a particular focus on poorer people.
At another panel consisting of entrepreneurs, they shared the challenges that women-led small businesses face when trying to integrate environmental and social considerations into their business activities and proposed changes that could help overcome these challenges.
The newspaper says that recently, the President of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Abdulrasid Yarima, cried out that over 10 per cent of the 40 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country have shut down since May.
He regretted that subsidy removal, rising energy costs, naira depreciation, rising inflation, operating costs and reduced purchasing power are forcing even more companies and businesses to go under. He was worried that if nothing is done to address these numerous problems manufacturers and entrepreneurs face, Nigeria would even be more de-industrialised.
A recent Small and Medium Enterprises Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) survey revealed that the biggest challenges of small businesses are high energy cost, high electricity tariffs, multiple taxation, poor access to finance and high cost of funds. Others are the depreciation of naira, high logistics cost and worsening insecurity.
Hence, the Chief Executive Officer, the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf, said there was an urgent need to stem the rising tide of de-industrialisation in the economy. He regretted that following the collapse of many manufacturing firms, most of which are SMEs, many factory premises have been converted to event centres, supermarkets, worship centres, warehouses for imported finished goods, restaurants and sports viewing centres.
“Many of our industrial estates have become a shadow of what they used to be. Evidence of all of these can be found in industrial estates located in Ilupeju, Ogba, Ikeja, Sango-Ota, Agbara and many other parts of the country. It is imperative to take urgent steps to stem the tide of de-industrialisation if we must curb the growing unemployment and increasing import dependence of our economy,” he said.
Yusuf said some factors causing de-industrialisation include the influx of cheap and substandard products into the country, FX crisis, poor electricity, high cost of energy (especially diesel and gas), multiple taxations, poor domestic patronage, policy inconsistency and weak infrastructural base. Other factors he said include high cost of funds, absence of long-term funds, poor access to credit, weak institutions, low industrial space and absence of innovation.
GIK/APA